(Minghui.org) Master talked about “... always cultivating as if you were just starting...” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX) in his lectures many times.
What was my cultivation state like when I just started practicing Falun Dafa? It was in the middle of the winter and extremely cold in northeast China. I rode my bicycle in the windy frozen night on my way to watch the nine-day video lectures happily. My best friends tried to persuade me to drink alcohol, but I refused. I helped people who were unable to move their cargo carts. If I cut my hand, I would look within to see if I didn’t do something right. I was always happy no matter what I came across.
I firmly believed in Falun Dafa without any doubt at that time. I did whatever Master told us to do and was not afraid of hardships.
Then what cultivation state should we have in the last leg of our journey? One day I met a practitioner who told me that she recites one lecture of Zhuan Falun a day and also reads Master’s other lectures. She also reads experience-sharing articles on Minghui and sends forth righteous thoughts at the four set times every day. She went out to distribute pamphlets and clarify the truth to people in person every morning or afternoon.
Master gave me a hint as to what standard I should be in line with. Dafa practitioners must study the Fa well if we want to do the three things well. I recited six pages of the Fa every day. Nowadays, cell phones are very attractive; it is so easy to spend too much time on them. If we are not careful, we will be dragged into watching shorts and videos and have our heads filled with many bad elements. I recite the Fa more now. Whenever I have time, I recite the Fa. I recited Zhuan Falun in its entirety in 26 days. Now I’ve started reciting it again. This time I am more focused on the content instead of the speed.
I used to do poorly with sending forth righteous thoughts. I hardly sent righteous thoughts at midnight. My dimensional field was not righteous and indirectly contributed to the persecution of fellow practitioners. One practitioner who lived in the same building as me was detained for distributing truth-clarification materials. I didn’t send forth righteous thoughts for her. One local practitioner was hospitalized for a week and passed away due to sickness karma several days ago. I didn’t send forth righteous thoughts for her, either.
I looked within and found that I didn’t pay much attention to sending forth righteous thoughts, that I dozed off when studying the Fa, that I didn’t get up early to practice the exercises, and that I didn’t send forth righteous thoughts at midnight though I set an alarm. When it was time to send righteous thoughts, I felt like I was performing a task. I must change my cultivation state and pay particular attention to sending forth righteous thoughts.
I listened to an audio recording on Minghui that a practitioner sent me about sending forth righteous thoughts. I had a new understanding after I listened to it. I understood why Master asked us to send forth righteous thoughts and understood the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts in a rational way. We must clear the old forces’ interference so we can complete our prehistoric vows of saving sentient beings and assisting Master in the Fa-rectification.
I recommended this audio recording to many practitioners. Besides the four set times for sending forth righteous thoughts globally, our local practitioners added another time for sending righteous thoughts from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday. One day, four of us sent forth righteous thoughts together. I was able to sit with my legs crossed for two hours for the first time since July 20, 1999.
My cultivation state has since changed dramatically. I regained my confidence in cultivation. I increased the number of times for sending forth righteous thoughts and did it at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m. I try my best to send forth righteous thoughts during the day whenever I can. When I feel sleepy, I send righteous thoughts standing up. I am able to get up and send righteous thought at midnight when my alarm goes off. I am now also able to practice the exercises in the early morning and can visit the Minghui website easily nowadays. I think it is because I’m paying attention to sending forth righteous thoughts.
If I really listen to Master and want to do the three things well, I must look within.
I often have conflicts with my wife, who is also a practitioner, in our daily lives. She is bossy and heavily indoctrinated by the culture of the Chinese Communist Party. We study the Fa together every day, but she doesn’t practice the exercises often. She was busy with work and often had to work overtime. I do almost all of the household chores. She always finds fault with me when she is at home. She displayed strong jealousy and I was worried about her.
One day she told me to let the ice melt in the freezer because I didn’t clean it for a long time. My son came to help me as he likes to play with water. I took one small basin and one big basin to hold the water. The big basin was the basin we used to wash our feet. While cleaning, a practitioner rang and asked me to help her with something. I left and asked my son to finish the cleaning. When I came back, my wife screamed at me for not doing things properly. I saw my son put the cleaning rug in the big basin. This rug was used for cleaning the table and shouldn’t be put into the basin which was used for washing feet. I looked at her and said defensively, “It’s not a big deal. Why do you get so angry? I was out. You are at home.” She shouted, “This is not my job! It’s yours!”
I didn’t argue with her. I wondered where I erred. I realized that she didn’t behave well for a long time and was actually helping me improve my xinxing. I pushed away the tribulations that I should have gone through and blamed her for not complying with Falun Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. My first thought was that it was her fault and that she didn’t look within. I realized that I looked down on her, I was competitive and I didn’t like it when she scolded me. My heart was moved when she challenged me. I didn’t accept it peacefully.
After my realization, my wife changed. She became more tolerant and no longer slept through the time for sendinhg righteous thoughts. She studies the Fa when she has time.
Our local practitioners visited every corner of the area that we could reach within a one-and-a-half hour drive. We delivered truth-clarification pamphlets to thousands of households, and saw so many happy faces when they received the information and were saved.
Many practitioners have passed away due to sickness karma. Many have become relaxed in cultivation due to the tribulations they have gone through. We haven’t completed our mission yet. So many sentient beings haven’t been saved. We are Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period. We shouldn’t let up. We must do the three things well and help Master in the Fa-rectification to save sentient beings. We should cultivate as if we just started. We must return to our best cultivation state and be worthy of our mission.
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Category: Improving Oneself
